350 plasma donors still sought in Sherbrooke

Sherbrooke, January 7, 2016–Days before the planned opening of the PLASMAVIE Plasma Donor Lounge in Sherbrooke on January 29, Héma-Québec is launching a new appeal for the still needed 350 donors in order to reach the 1,000 registration mark to achieve the centre’s initial recruitment goal.

The future Plasma Donor Lounge is therefore looking for new candidates in Sherbrooke, Magog and surrounding areas. Héma-Québec invite all people who have thought about giving blood but haven’t done so yet, as well as all current donors who would like to try the plasma donation experience to register.

Those interested can notify us of their intention to donate or get more information right now by calling toll-free 1-800-343-SANG (7264). Individuals who will be giving blood today or tomorrow at the Carrefour de l’Estrie mobile blood drives can also find out more about the Sherbrooke PLASMAVIE by speaking with the team of recruiters on site.

This Plasma Donor Lounge is located close to shopping centres and big box stores, thus making it possible to donate plasma while running errands or passing through Sherbrooke. Located at 3200 King Street West, the Sherbrooke PLASMAVIE required an investment of $2.34 million and benefitted from the support of Sherbrooke Innopole. It will employ 35 people in order to collect from 400 donors each week.

The yearly objective of 20,000 donations in Sherbrooke is very important to enable patients to obtain medications made from the collected plasma. The needs are significant. Héma-Québec will have to collect more than 200,000 litres of plasma per year by 2020 to meet these needs. Héma-Québec currently collects 55,000 litres.

About Héma-Québec

Héma-Québec’s mission is to efficiently meet the needs of the Québec population for safe, optimal-quality blood and blood products, human tissues, cord blood, mother’s milk and cellular products; to develop and provide expertise and specialized, innovative services in the field of human biological products. Héma-Québec encompasses 1,300 employees, more than 300,000 donor attendances on blood collection sites every year, 16,000 volunteers and more than 500,000 blood products delivered annually to Québec hospitals to meet the needs of patients.